Designer Babies

What is a Designer Baby? A designer baby is a baby genetically engineered in vitro for special selected traits, which can vary from lowered disease-risk to gender selection. In the future, this could mean the inclusions of other traits such as eye color, hair color, athleticism or height

How do you make a Designer Baby? Two Legal Forms: Choosing the type of sperm (xx, xy) to determine the sex and genes of the baby Screen the embryos for genetic disorders. Then selected healthy embryos are implanted (Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis) Most techniques involve InVitro Fertilization This means that the take the sperm and fertilize the egg essentially in a test tube before implantation into the mother. It reduces the chances of the child being born with a genetic disorder. There is a 50-70% chance of a success rate.

Who has Designer Babies? Parents who are concerned with their medical histories or previous children’s illnesses Couples who have the privilege to ‘balance’ their families Balancing a family is when a couple already has one or more children of a certain sex, for instance all boys, and want their next child to be the opposite sex, a girl. This is very expensive This can include mothers and fathers who are reproducing later in life and understand the medical risk they could potentially be putting their children at. As well as being able to have children later in life. In most medical facilities, it is only allowed to use these techniques for benign reasons if they are had a pervious child and want to balance their family. One of the first cases was documented in 1996 in Virginia in order to balance a family

Cost of a Designer Baby Different pathways to arrive at a designer baby 1st ($2,500): Figuring out the sex based on a sperm donation but this does not include InVitro Fertilization. If IVF is required it can become a lot more expensive. 2nd ($20,000): To harvest and freeze eggs (usually around 30) earlier in a woman’s life. Then to fertilize her egg using IVF with her husbands/partners sperm and screen the embryo for disease before it is implanted into the uterus. ($10,00-$15,000) per each treatment Ex: Three children via this method = $65,000

Why do people want a Designer Baby? Preventing genetic disease Primarily aesthetic reasons Single mothers/sperm banks If a family has a history of cystic fibrosis for example it may be extremely important for them to stop that trait from being passed on. Again you do hear about people who want certain gendered children or to look a certain way (in the future this may be possible) just like you hear about women in big cities scheduling their c-sections. It is all done for their convenience and to their specific liking There is already a certain amount of designer taking place at the level of mothers without partners. If a women were to go to the sperm bank she can pick out the perfect candidate for to be the father of her child. She will know the medical history, the possible appearance genes that will be passed etc. This can help her create a designer baby in a sense. Although we are not there yet, this topic has been brought up before in our history and is definitely

Ethics Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs deems unethical Social Division Possible Neoeugenics The council in the united states has deemed it appropriate for medical facilities to utilize this procedure for genetic disorders solely but when it comes to benign or aesthetic traits they say it is unethical to use these procedures. Although it is not illegal so many people still use them anyways. This can cause a social division showing if it becomes a trend or fad, thus even splitting our society even more dividing between the wealthy and poor. This could cause the wealthy to have healthy beautiful babies or whatever they deem to be beautiful based on their liking and medical advancements, and balanced families. Where as having an all girl family besides the father could be a signal of poverty or not having the luxury of having healthy children. This could all cause a huge social divide Although we are not there yet, this topic has been brought up before in our history and is definitely a concern if we get to the point in our future where we can create an embryo with the genetics of our liking.

Future Future advancement in reproductive procedures Being able to fix unhealthy DNA in an embryo instead of searching for a perfectly naturally healthy embryo Being able to create an embryo with the exact aesthetic traits as a couple wishes.

Creating Baby

Citations www.thegardian.com/science/2004/jul/22/sciencenews.health3 www.cbsnews.com/news/choosing-your-babys-gender/ http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=designer+babies&btnG=&as_sdt= 1%2C39&as_sdtp= www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/07/07/designer-babies-are-only-for- the-rich.html http://embryo.asu.edu/pages/ethics-designer-babies www.bionetonline.org/english/content/db_cont1.htm